Friday, November 27, 2009

The picture doesn't do it justice, but this is a picture of the plaque and pen I received for two years of service at the University of Phoenix. In the two years I have worked there, I have had 5 different desks, been on two different teams, and have worked in two different buildings. As of Monday, it will be desk # 6 and building # 3. Yes, we are moving to a brand new building on Priest and Washington. It is a nice building. My desk will be on the third floor. I will have a window to look out, but I am too far from it to really enjoy the surroundings outside. The biggest attraction would have been the light rail. I am going to miss the McDonald's and the Circle K that was by the old building (this is a good thing, I think), but we are pretty close to a Filberto's and Port of Subs. To get to them however, you have to cross both Priest and Washington, across the light rail. I was able to take Kyra last week to see the new building and to see my desk. It was fun walking around trying to find where my desk would be. It took us about five minutes, but we found it! Kyra found it before I did. I got to see where my team would be sitting and who I am sitting next to. The next day, I went to work and was talking about what I had seen. I found out that after I left work to go to the new building, an email was sent out to all of us telling us not to go to the new building before the next Monday! Oops! Sorry about that. The new building is about three miles from home and less that ten minutes by car. It will be too difficult to take the bus, but I might be able to ride a bike, as least when it is not too hot. I am grateful for my job and for my company. I still hope to move up into training, but all is good!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.

Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 49 million in 2008.

The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys—one fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States in 2007—were eaten at Thanksgiving.

88 percent of Americans said they eat turkey at Thanksgiving. The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds, which means some 690 million pounds of turkey were consumed in the U.S. during Thanksgiving in 2007.

The cranberry is one of only three fruits—the others are the blueberry and the Concord grape—that are entirely native to North American soil

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long.

Originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade—to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season—the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy's employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.

Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.

he first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country--the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.

About Me

I should probably start with explaining the "Bill the Great". It was a nickname I aquired at and old job. I had not really thought of it in a long time until I was pondering a blog site name. It is not anything that I take seriously, so please, take it lightly! I grew up in Scottsdale and have lived my entire life in Arizona. I have been married for 16 years and have four children, Billy, Kyra, Tasha, and Payton.